{"id":205784,"date":"2026-03-05T16:19:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T16:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/205784\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T16:19:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T16:19:12","slug":"fears-mount-at-cbs-news-and-cnn-over-merger-consolidation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/205784\/","title":{"rendered":"Fears mount at CBS News and CNN over merger, consolidation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Paramount\u2019s $111-billion deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery<\/a> will put two of the most storied journalism brands \u2014 CNN and CBS News \u2014 under one roof.<\/p>\n

The combination has been proposed before with the aim of consolidating news-gathering costs. Those plans fell apart largely over who would be in control.<\/p>\n

But if the Paramount-WBD transaction is approved by regulators, CNN and CBS News will be forced into potentially rocky marriage where they will have to sort out leadership roles, personnel and editorial direction.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s still too early to determine what those moves will be and how widely they will be felt.<\/p>\n

Last week CNN Chief Executive Mark Thompson told his troops<\/a> to avoid \u201cjumping to conclusions about the future.\u201d <\/p>\n

But what is certain is that every permutation will be scrutinized closely due to the fraught relationships both CNN and CBS News have with the Trump administration. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been many conversations over the years about combining CBS News and CNN,\u201d said Jon Klein, a digital media entrepreneur who previously held leadership roles at both organizations. \u201cBut this time, it\u2019s different. The business case always made sense \u2014 but today you\u2019ve got the overlay of the political agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before Paramount prevailed in its bid for CNN\u2019s parent, Paramount Chief Executive David Ellison\u2019s father Larry Ellison reportedly discussed changes to the network with Trump. For years, Trump has made CNN the poster child of his \u201cfake news\u201d claims and impugned many of its journalists. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat has David Ellison and Larry Ellison promised Donald Trump with regard to what they\u2019re going to do with CNN?\u201d said one former executive. \u201cBefore you even get through the hurdles of doing this, that\u2019s the overriding question. Are they going to fire anchors Trump doesn\u2019t like?\u201d<\/p>\n

There is also apprehension at CBS News, where David Ellison installed Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief in October<\/a>, with a mandate to have network\u2019s coverage appeal to the political center. <\/p>\n

\"CBS <\/p>\n

CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss with Turning Point USA\u2019s Erika Kirk at a town hall that aired Dec. 20.<\/p>\n

(CBS Photo Archive \/ CBS via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Weiss \u2014 founder of the independent media company The Free Press \u2014 came into the role with no experience running a TV news organization, building her reputation as an opinion writer with contrarian views and a disdain for woke ideology. <\/p>\n

The former New York Times opinion writer, who is staunchly pro-Israel, drew criticism over the weekend for putting a fire emoji over a comment criticizing New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s condemnation of the U.S. military action in Iran \u2014 an unusual public reaction for the head of a major news organization.<\/p>\n

Weiss wasted no time taking on the prestigious CBS news magazine \u201c60 Minutes,\u201d which has long been a stubbornly independent operation. She delayed a story <\/a>on the harsh El Salvador prison used by the U.S. to house undocumented migrants saying it needed more reporting. The story\u2019s correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi accused CBS News management of placating the White House, turning the decision into a public relations fiasco for the network.<\/p>\n

Significant changes are coming to \u201c60 Minutes\u201d later this spring, with one or more of its correspondents possibly being replaced, according to people familiar with Weiss\u2019 plans who were not authorized to comment. Weiss has also expressed interest in hiring right-leaning on-air talent for CBS News.<\/p>\n

Some CBS News leadership is already heading for the exit. Shana Thomas, longtime \u201cCBS Mornings\u201d executive producer, told staff Thursday she is leaving at the end of the month. \u201cI\u2019ve been thinking about this for a while and frankly, I\u2019m tired y\u2019all,\u201d she wrote in a memo.<\/p>\n

Weiss arrived after Paramount settled a Trump lawsuit with the dubious claim that a \u201c60 Minutes\u201d interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris<\/a> was deceptively edited to aid her 2024 presidential election campaign against him. <\/p>\n

The willingness to settle the suit was largely seen as Paramount capitulating to Trump in order to get government approval of its merger with Skydance Media. The Ellisons\u2019 tight relationship with Trump was also seen as an asset in their successful pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The stew of issues bubbling through the transactions is why most of the rank and file at CNN rooted for Netflix to prevail in its bidding for Warner Bros. Discovery. The Netflix bid for WBD did not include CNN or the company\u2019s cable networks, which in the words of one insider would have made it \u201ca stay of execution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now CNN staffers, speaking on the condition of anonymity, are bracing for upheaval. When they look at CBS News navigating the changes under Weiss, they are reminded what they went through after Warner Bros. Discovery took over their network and tried to push the coverage to the center. <\/p>\n

After a declaration by WBD Chief Executive David Zaslav that the network needed to be more accommodating to conservative voices<\/a> \u2014 and the telecast of a rowdy Trump town hall \u2014 CNN experienced an exodus of viewers.<\/p>\n

But the biggest fear that the merger brings is consolidation and the loss of jobs. CNN has 3,400 employees while CBS News is at around 1,000. Cost-cutting is expected to be aggressive across the combined Paramount-WBD, which will have a mountain of debt to service<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The parent companies of CBS and CNN have discussed merging or sharing news-gathering operations and on-air talent numerous times over several decades. In 2019, Viacom, the CBS News parent at the time, had a deal in place to pay CNN an annual license fee to provide international coverage. <\/p>\n

Under that plan, CBS would have maintained a few of its signature overseas correspondents, while shuttering its bureaus around the world. But Viacom backed out of the deal.<\/p>\n

CNN\u2019s international coverage has long been its calling card and its likely the network will handle that reporting for CBS News once Paramount takes ownership.<\/p>\n

Combining the news-gathering operation stateside will be trickier, as CBS News has employees and vendors that operate under contracts with the Writers Guild of America East, SAG-AFTRA and other unions. CNN is a non-union shop.<\/p>\n

Resolving the union issue has been a snag in every previous discussion to combine CBS News and CNN over the years, according to several former executives at both outlets.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

CNN news anchor Anderson Cooper in New York in 2016.<\/p>\n

(Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Another development worth watching is what role Anderson Cooper will play in the merged operation. Cooper signed a new deal with CNN last year, but turned down an offer to remain as a \u201c60 Minutes\u201d correspondent, a role he\u2019s had since 2007.<\/p>\n

CBS News has pursued Cooper several times over the years to be its evening news anchor. There was even a proposal in 2018 for him to helm \u201cCBS Evening News\u201d while keeping his nightly prime time program on CNN. That idea was shot down at CNN, where leadership believed he was unique to the network\u2019s brand.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Cooper cited a desire to spend more time with his two children as the reason for passing on another \u201c60 Minutes\u201d deal<\/a>. However, associates have said his wariness over the direction of CBS News under Weiss made his decision easier. <\/p>\n

Now Cooper is likely headed into the CNN-CBS News tent, which may make him feel a bit like Michael Corleone in \u201cGodfather III\u201d when he said \u201cJust when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paramount\u2019s $111-billion deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery will put two of the most storied journalism brands \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":205785,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[51320,4596,5177,1804,40502,6709,48,52,51,76476,47,50,49,49397,47635,5848,6336,315,1519,26368,72],"class_list":{"0":"post-205784","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-bari-weiss","9":"tag-cbs-news","10":"tag-cnn","11":"tag-company","12":"tag-consolidation","13":"tag-deal","14":"tag-la","15":"tag-la-headlines","16":"tag-la-news","17":"tag-leadership-role","18":"tag-los-angeles","19":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","20":"tag-los-angeles-news","21":"tag-merger","22":"tag-minutes","23":"tag-network","24":"tag-paramount","25":"tag-time","26":"tag-trump","27":"tag-warner-bros-discovery","28":"tag-year"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}